Weifang Culture

As a cultural city, Weifang provides diverse cultures like kites, paintings, etc. Here is some information that might be helpful for your further knowing of Weifang culture.

Kite Culture

Kite flying is a traditional culture in Weifang. Weifang kites were in vague in Song Dynasty, and were further popularized in Ming Dynasty. In 1984, the first international kite festival was held there. More than ten thousand kite fans attended the opening ceremony. People from eleven different countries and regions, including the United States and Canada, took part in the festival. Since then, Weifang holds the Weifang International Kite Festival each year. It falls in April annually. If you visit Weifang, you could pay a visit to kite museum there in which you could learn more about kite culture and you could make kites in person.

Painting

Annual Board of Yangjiabu, one of the three most famous Chinese folk paintings in history, sees a long history which could be traced back to the end of the Ming Dynasty. The painting reached the peak of its development during the Qing Dynasty. Generally, people replace the old Annual Broads with the new ones on the eve of Spring Festival, which is a significant day before the New Year in China, in order to give blessings to the family and friends in the following year. But these kinds of customs are barely seen nowadays. The subjects of Annual Board of Yangjiabu are various, which include flowers, beauties, landscapes, characters from myths and legends. The architecture skills such as concise lines and bright colors reflect the distinctive characteristics of people in Weifang. The paintings have been sold to more than 80 countries and regions.

Gaomi Papercutting

Papercutting, the art of cutting paper designs, has a long history in Gaomi city. In Ming Dynasty, multitudes of migrators brought their own papercutting, which superimposed local ones, so unique papercutting with Gaomi styles formulated. This widespread handicraft has unique styles, such as strong contrast in color, straight and simple line and exaggerated outline. The characters mostly come from the dramatic stories, flowers and birds, as well as some fantastic symbols. Papercutting would be pasted as decoration in Spring Festival or Lantern Festival. In in December 2006, it was listed in the first patch of Shandong provincial intangible cultural heritage list.